It may be a Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) company, but the film and television software distributor, Star Entertainment Pvt Ltd is confident of growing at 22 to 25 per cent a year for the next few years.
The company's director Jiten Hemdev says that with the proliferation of television channels, the need for content is also growing.
"The demand for foreign content is increasing -- especially, English language programmes for Indian channels," he says.
Recently, Star Entertainment acquired the video CD and cable TV rights for the well-known animation series "Adventures of Tintin" for India. While the animation series (dubbed in Hindi, Bangla, Tamil and Malayalam) is already on air on some channels, the video CDs are being distributed by Shethia Audio Video.
Star is also negotiating with the rights owners to the latest French comic series "Marsupilami", an animation feature based on a baby leopard. That is not all. After having bought the video rights to the British "Carry On' series, it is trying to wrest its television rights too.
With the changing media scenario in India, Hemdev says that companies also need to discuss the "broadband and mobile TV rights" for the programmes that they may be buying. "For, the growth will come from the new modes of delivery of content," he adds.
Hemdev set up Star Entertainment in 1985 when the government first liberalised import of English language films. However, lately, with the big theatre and television companies such as PVR Cinemas and UTV getting into English film distribution, the going has got tough for a small player like Star.
But Hemdev is not complaining. "Yes, they do pay huge sums for the blockbusters. So I am now looking at small budget films as well as films from countries other than the US," he says.
Star Entertainment brought the French film Swimming Pool to India earlier this year. On August 12, the company's first Korean import, a martial arts feature film, will be released in 40 cinema houses in the country. The film has been dubbed in English, Hindi and a couple of south Indian languages.
A film from Denmark is also on the cards. The company is, however, focusing on sourcing television content from abroad including sports shows, comedies and animation series.
"India will need more content for mobile, broadband, cable TV and DTH. We see ourselves as major supplier of programmes," says Hemdev.
His dream, however, is to enter the FM radio business. "After all, we did run Star Radio in Mumbai for many years as part of the scheme where private companies bought slots on AIR. We are currently doing a project report on whether the new policy makes it viable for us to enter the business."
